I nearly laughed out loud when one of my clients asked me if I have a database ? somewhere to store details of all my clients and contacts. I was surprised that he asked, but perhaps there are still some marketing companies that don?t have a database. I couldn?t run or grow my business without my database and I always recommend to clients that they set one up, if they don?t already have one; and that they use it!

So how do we use our database?

Clients ? we use our database to store contact details for all our clients. We put in basic things like their address, phone number and website; and other details such as their Twitter account (if they have one) and their birthday. Then we add into the system things like login details for their website ? where we are involved in updating their site for them. Their listing shows me how they first heard about us and any quotes we?ve sent them ? along with details of which we?ve won or lost. We also use the database to store details of all the contact we have with our clients ? notes on phone conversations and emails, which we can refer back to. For each of our clients we record details of what work we do for them each month, or what each project we?re working on for them. We use all this information to help us keep in touch with our clients on a regular basis.

Prospects ? every time we meet a new prospect, we put their details onto the database. As well as their contact details, we record how they heard about us and what sort of help they?re looking for. We store details of quotes we?ve sent, along with a date when we?re going to follow up the quote. Each time we talk to a prospect about the help they?re looking for, we put some notes into the database, which helps us tailor the solution we can provide to their challenges. Every week, the database gives me a list of sales calls that I need to make.

Suppliers ? we store lots of useful information in our database about our favourite suppliers, too, so we can get in touch with them easily.

Marketing reports ? using all the information we store on our clients and prospects, we can run a range of really useful reports from the database, allowing us to measure our marketing. We can see how many enquiries are generated by each of the different marketing activities we carry out; we can also see how many clients come from each activity. We can tell who our best referrers are and who has given us a referral and when ? and therefore who needs to receive a lovely thank you gift!

So in answer to the ?do you have a database?? question is not just ?yes?, it is ?absolutely and I could not run my business without it?. Do you have a database? Does it do what it needs to do, to help you grow your business? If not and you?d like to advice on creating a powerful tool, get in touch.